Uzhin
by Abicion
Summary: Here, have a Snickers. You get a little 80s schlock anime when you're hungry.


"I'm pulling you out, Lieutenant. There's no hope for them now."

Christopher casually observed the scene in his optics. The Su-37UB Terminator of the Scarlet Twins was stranded on Yukon Base's flight strip. Its legs and jump units had been sawed off with its own weaponry. His radar showed another group of BETA stampeding straight toward the downed unit.

Just behind Christopher, built into what was originally the Fulcrum's rear seat, was a large metal capsule glowing with a bright red light. The voice of a young girl transmitted from the mechanical egg with a metallic echo.

"_With your permission, Captain, I'd like to continue my infiltration. If I let them regain their senses, there's a slight chance they may escape unharmed. It'd be better for me to remain active if I'm to complete __**all **__of my mission parameters."_

"You're talking about two unarmed Espers against a horde of BETA." Christopher raised his voice in slight concern. It was a rare feat. "You'll still be synchronized with them while they're being torn to shreds. What if one of them lives long enough to go into shock? Won't that affect you as well?"

"_Not at all, sir," _the co-pilot answered courteously._ "I'm able to control the level of neural feedback I receive. I remained active until the point of termination in all of the simulations and it's only helped improve my abilities."_

Christopher gave his approval with a stern nod.

"Suit yourself."

He reached to his control panel and entered a few simple commands to extend the device's operating time.

* * *

Something was wrong with Cryska and Inia. They made no attempt to escape from their immobilized TSF as they watched the stampeding BETA heading straight toward them. Instead, they only smirked at one another and looked forward to their demise. After all, they were the ones who had strategically disabled their own Terminator and left themselves in this dire predicament.

It was only moments ago that they had been helping the rest of Argos Test Flight push back a combined invasion of BETA and RLF units on the Yukon Base. They had remained their usual selves up until the moment they tried to enter their Prafka state to heighten their combat reflexes. It was then that Christopher's rogue psychic, unbeknownst to anyone in the Yukon forces, played her trump card. In that instant she was able to completely take hold of the Scarlet Twins' actions, dominating their inferior Esper minds and crushing their free will. Christopher's accomplice could only use this ability against other Espers such as herself, but when she _was_ able to use it, it was brutally effective.

Just beside the crippled Terminator, on the same patch of airstrip, was the smoldering wreckage of the Shiranui Unit 2. The TSF's pilot had been vaporized in a ruthless surprise attack. The wreckage shined like an orange campfire in the middle of the dark Alaskan twilight. Cryska and Inia had brought the hot dogs.

The members of the Argos team frantically tried to make sense of the situation through their radios.

"I've lost Tarisa's signal!" Yuuya's tinny voice shouted from somewhere far away. "What the hell is going on down there?"

"I… I don't know," Yui stammered in response. "We were protecting the doors, and then Inia and Cryska went crazy. They were both talking about how much they love Christopher and they started shooting back at us! They killed her, Yuuya!"

Cryska and Inia remained on the channel the entire time. As they smiled ominously with their vibrant, Prafka-induced eyes, everyone on the team could see what was happening in the Terminator's cockpit.

Everyone including Yui.

"Inia! Cryska! Whatever's going on, snap out of it! You have to get out of there!" Yuuya pleaded.

"We're not going anywhere, Yuuya," Cryska replied with a low, meager chuckle. "This is what Christopher wants for us."

"Yeah!" Inia happily chimed in. "We need to wait for the BETA to get here! They deserve a nice dinner after all their hard work!"

The Twins gasped in glee as their cockpit suddenly jolted, heralding the arrival of the ravenous creatures. They knew from the noises clanging through their hull that a small army of BETA was now swarming over the Terminator, carefully inspecting the unit for any structural weaknesses that would help them breach the cockpit.

Each of the Twins reached for the back of her neck in joyful anticipation. On the back of their armor was a small button that made their matching blue pilot suits safe for removal. Their gleaming skintight jumpsuits became softer and more slack as the armored portions automatically unfastened. Now the BETA could gorge on the two pilots without all the foil wrappings getting in the way.

"Come on in, guys!" Cryska cried upward with a wide grin. "Don't worry about that girl in front of me. I'm the one you really want!"

"Eww. The BETA won't want any of you once they taste how salty you are." Inia curled her nose in disgust. "They want something sweet and chewy like me!"

"Oh, please," Cryska scoffed at her co-pilot. "You don't have enough meat to fill a single Soldier-class!" She stretched one of her arms behind her head and threw her voluptuous bust forward, teasing the less "gifted" Inia. The movement caused her Fortified Suit to partially slip from her shoulders.

"I have plenty!" Inia shot back at Cryska as she anxiously wiggled her round, silicon-covered hips. "I'm just not loaded with fat like you!"

"They'll like me better, Inia! They're hungry for a full-grown turkey, not some scrawny little duckling!"

"Don't be stupid, Cryska! I'll give them better proteins. You'll just give them indigestion!"

* * *

"Is this wholly necessary, Lieutenant?" Christopher asked with growing impatience as he monitored the hacked communications feed. "I fail to see the point of your… theatrics."

He had to wait a moment before his mysterious copilot pulled herself out of her deep, relaxed purring.

"_Mm. Psychological persuasion, sir. It's the most effective approach given the secondary target's history."_

"Ah."

* * *

The Twins argued over who would provide their alien guests with the tastiest and most nutritious meal for some time. Finally, the deafening screams of several tons of reinforced metal folding over itself drowned out their voices. The cockpit door of the Terminator peeled open like the top of a giant tin can. Inia and Cryska put their squabbling to an end and looked up with identical eager smiles.

A legion of enormous red Tank-class arms reached down from the opening. As Cryska was roughly pulled out of the cockpit, her unsecured Fortified Suit slid off of her body like loose cellophane and stayed behind in her seat. One Tank-class loomed forward to "sniff" the genetically enhanced _homo sapiens_ female with its front sensors. When it opened its massive maw, steamy alien saliva dripped on Cryska's nude collarbone, fell between her cleavage, and rolled around her navel. This caused her to giggle in ticklish delight.

The BETA placed her entire head in its mouth and bit down with a harsh _crunch_. The entity that had been invading Cryska's mind lost its control in an instant, but the only movements her body could make under its own control were brief, stilted leg spasms as her brainstem was separated from the rest of her neck.

The alien creature found the solid bone of Cryska's cranium to be not of its liking. It spit the silver-haired head from its mouth, sending it skidding across the Yukon tarmac. More BETA joined in to fight over the Esper's headless remains, tugging at each of her four limbs until the tendons tore out of their sockets, then devouring her in separate portions. Her tender flesh was what they really craved.

At the same time, another Tank-class wrapped its giant fingers around Inia and lifted her from the front of the Terminator cockpit along with her flimsy but intact Fortified Suit. She looked at her captor with an admiring gaze.

"I'm all yours, Mr. BETA."

She laughed like a child on a seesaw as two BETA pulled her back and forth, fighting over who would get the first morsel while trying to separate her torso from her lower half. She was still fully aware (albeit hopelessly under the enemy Esper's hypnosis) when the armor in her Fortified Suit failed, her spine snapped in half, and her abdominal muscles started to tear apart. Her insides spilled out from the gap that used to be her slender waistline, giving the BETA a new scent of fresh blood and sending them into an even more savage frenzy. One of the monsters took her dangling viscera by the juicy, crimson handful, holding it up just in front of her face. Her eyes quickly losing their life, blood frothing from her mouth, she spent her final moments cheerfully delivering a single haunting message.

"There's no point in fighting it, Yui!"

Her entire body was then ripped completely in two. The catastrophic drop in blood pressure effectively shut her brain down within seconds. Just as with Cryska, death was the only thing that freed her from Christopher's influence.

And in the end, the BETA found both Scarlet Twins to be equally delectable.

Yui only watched it once on her static-filled magnified view, but it continued to play on infinite repeat in her mind. That's when it all started coming back to her. The fires of Kyoto. Her entire training squadron being overtaken by BETA. The nightmarish final moments of Izumi and Yamashiro. She thought she had put it behind her three years ago, but now those horrifying memories came roaring back. And this time, all of that grief greeted her with a sadistic smile on its face. She was being _invited_ back to her old trauma, invited into madness.

Unconsciously, she started clenching and scratching the sides of her head with her armored hands. She couldn't help but laugh. Hysterical laughter turned into pitiful sobbing, and then became laughter again.

"Takamura!" Yuuya shouted across the radio. "Damn it, Takamura! Answer me!"

She made no response. She couldn't even find herself in her own mind. How could she possibly hear anyone else?

"Yui, what's wrong?" Yuuya became even more urgent. "Shit, her vitals are going off the charts!"

"Should we try giving her a sedative through her Suit?" Stella suggested nervously on another channel.

"You'll end up killing her before she comes down from something like this," Yuuya responded. "She needs _help._"

Yuuya fought off the rest of his opponents and rushed toward the blip on his radar representing Yui's yellow Takemikazuchi. It stood perfectly still with solid resolution, a stark contrast to the violent panic attack its pilot was having inside. It was hundreds of yards away from Cryska, Inia, and Tarisa's final resting place, but it wouldn't be safe for long.

Yuuya's prototype Shiranui Unit 1 stopped right in front of her. Yuuya released the Takemikazuchi's remote emergency hatch, leapt across to the unit's fuselage, and retrieved Yui from the cockpit. Or rather he retrieved Yui's broken, rambling husk.

Yuuya returned to the Shiranui with Yui in his arms. They launched off of the airstrip just as a wave of Destroyer-class charged the spot where the TSF had been standing. They ended up tackling the empty Takemikazuchi to the ground, and Tank-class were soon dismantling it in the misguided hopes they would still find another feast inside.

The Argos team regrouped and continued their retreat. They had lost their home, their strongest TSFs, and their best pilots that night.

* * *

Christopher watched the entire macabre scene with the same cold and detached expression as before. Behind him, the Esper cooed from her chamber with provocative _"ooh"s_ and _"ahhh"s. _When the Terminator pilots had breathed their last and she could no longer experience her enemies' misery, she went silent and remained that way for several seconds. Christopher assumed she was recomposing herself after enjoying her own mind games a little too much. If there had been any humor in him, he would have shaken his head in disbelief. But he had no time for humor, and he didn't particularly care how one of his subordinates completed her objectives. He was satisfied with whatever got the job done.

"_Mission accomplished, sir," _the Esper said in a more cordial manner_. "The Scarlet Twins have been properly disposed of and Japan's ace pilot is no longer a threat. Yukon Base has been overrun by… too many BETA to count, heh. The only collateral damage was that annoying Nepalese pilot, but I sense she was going to be one of your next targets."_

"Good work, Lieutenant," Christopher replied. "I know how much this deep-scan Prafka interfacing can drain you. I'm taking you back to recuperate for the next mission. You'll be briefed on Stage 2 in one week."

The Fulcrum lifted off from its secret vantage point and faded into the black horizon.


End file.
